


Three Thousand Monkeys, Jumping on the Bed

by VigsFest



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M, Peter is realistic about Steve and Toni;, Tony Stark is a Woman; Peter Potts is not Stupid;
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 08:28:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26350105
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigsFest/pseuds/VigsFest
Summary: “There once was a girl named Morgan who went to bed. The end,” Toni obliged, scooping some more things off the floor and onto a chair. She leaned over to kiss Morgan, who had scrunched up her face.“That’s a terrible story!” Morgan exclaimed.“What?” Toni pretended to be outraged. “It has everything you need in a good story: a protagonist”—here she poked Morgan gently so the girl would understand the word—“who gets to rest. It’s a perfect story!”
Kudos: 3





	Three Thousand Monkeys, Jumping on the Bed

**Author's Note:**

> This is a piece of a longer, larger work that's exactly like the MCU, except Tony is a Toni, and Pepper Potts is a Peter Potts who may or may not look almost exactly not unlike George Clooney.

“Okay, we’re done here, Maguna,” Toni said as she wiped Morgan’s mouth with the cuff of her sleeve. “Nighty-night!”

“Tell me a story,” Morgan urged, her mouth redder from the juice pop than their dentist would have probably preferred.

“There once was a girl named Morgan who went to bed. The end,” Toni obliged, scooping some more things off the floor and onto a chair. She leaned over to kiss Morgan, who had scrunched up her face.

“That’s a terrible story!” Morgan exclaimed.

“What?” Toni pretended to be outraged. “It has everything you need in a good story: a protagonist”—here she poked Morgan gently so the girl would understand the word—“who gets to rest. It’s a perfect story!”

Morgan’s disdain was pretty clear. Toni leaned over again, and popped a kiss on Morgan’s head, smelling that distinctive child’s shampoo she had grown to adore. “I love you loads!”

“I love you three thousand,” was Morgan’s prompt reply. Toni rocked back on her heels, overcome by the wave of affection that rushed through her. Every day. Every day this child surprised her. From the day Toni had learned about her to right this minute. Is this love? Unconditional. Unconforming. Given freely.

“Wow,” was all Toni could say. She tried to limit her bursting into tears in front of her child to once a week. How had they ever pulled this off? _This is creation, _she thought. _Forget weapons, this is real power. This is perfection. All I need is right here in this house.___

Morgan seemed pleased to have silenced her mother, not asking for another story, her eyes drooping a bit.

_Drop the mic, baby girl. Walk off stage on a high. _Toni pushed herself to her feet. “Wow, three thousand,” she whispered as she turned off the light, shaking her head slightly, even as she thumbed the House Monitor Protocol on the side of the lamp. If Morgan got up during the night, that was fine. But if that window even creaked, or she had nightmare, Toni would know.__

“Go to sleep or I’ll sell all your toys,” she threw over her should as she closed the door.

Morgan’s giggle and exasperated head toss on the pillow followed Toni into the hall. _Three thousand, huh? What an odd number. Way too many monkeys for one bed. I wonder where she heard that number? _Toni shook her head, heading downstairs for the dishes.__

Tomorrow she would teach Morgan the meaning of infinity.

*

Ignoring the lure of the holo on the worktable, Toni strolled into the living room with a jauntiness she didn’t really feel. “I don’t mean to brag, but—”

 _“But…” _Peter murmured, turning a page in his book without looking up.__

“—she loves me three thousand. You were somewhere in the low four to six hundreds.”

Peter turned another page. “She also thinks FRIDAY is her invisible talking dog, _sooooo…….”_

“And for that reason,” Toni went out without missing a beat, “we don’t have to have one of those wrenching ‘Friday went to play with the other dogs on another farm far away’ conversations when she’s thirteen, so…” she mimed tying a bow on a package and presenting it to him, “you’re welcome.”

Peter didn’t reply, didn’t even look up, but she could see the faintest smile twitching his lip.

She sighed. “What are you reading?”

Peter checked the cover before answering. “A book on composting.”

There was a silent beat where he checked on her over his glasses and saw her attention back on the holo table. He waited, holding a finger on the paragraph.

“What’s new in composting?” she asked faintly.

“Nothing. This is a basic—”

“I solved it,” she said suddenly.

Peter tilted the book toward him as he regarded her. Toni stood at the side of the couch, attention laser-focused on that table, her arms folded tightly in front of her.

“And….,” he played along. “Just so we’re, you know, on the same page….?”

“Time… _travel,” _she trailed off, not hesitant, but aware of how it sounded. “I solved time travel.”__

Peter swallowed. He’d overheard the discussion on the porch, asked her a few questions in front of Morgan over lunch, but Toni had been so casual about it, so overly dismissive, that he knew, he just knew it would eat at her. Truthfully, though, he’d estimated another week.

_Just another week…before she solved time travel. Because of course._

“Since lunch?” he teased, hoping to calm her down by refocusing her. Hoping to calm himself down because _fuck._

“Well,” she shrugged, “there was that nap in there.” She wagged her head defensively. Like she had to explain why it took so long.

“Yours or hers,” he shot back.

Now Toni was looking at him, making a face. But it worked, the hard stare at the other room had broken. “And don’t forget the afternoon run around the lake. Which, I _really _don’t mean to keep harping on this, but you both lost, _again!” _____

_____ _

God, he loved this woman.

_____ _

“I was keeping our daughter from running into the lake,” was his mild defense.

_____ _

Toni tapped the side of her face. “I’m _listening, _but all I’m hearing are excuses.”__

_______ _ _ _

The spell was broken, and she sank into the far end of the couch, tucking her feet between the cushions. “I solved it. It’s right there.”

_______ _ _ _

“What now?” Peter asked carefully. “Do we call Nobel?”

_______ _ _ _

She didn't even pause to consider it, scrunching her face in disgust and then flicked the thought away. Things had new meaning now, and some things no longer mattered. That Toni Stark would dismiss a Nobel Prize with a wave of her hand was something else. The last 15 years had been an evolution he was privileged to witness, he knew that in his bones.

_______ _ _ _

Toni looked away, looked around, rubbed her face, sighed, rested her head on the back of the couch. “I don’t know. It’s just a piece—a very large, _the crucial piece of course _—but I don’t know the whole plan. I imagine it involves going back in time.”__

_______ _ _ _

“To kill Thanos?” Peter thought this might have been the first time he’d said that name out loud in a long while. He knew the nightmares, the drive, and the cost of Toni’s ten plus years’ experience with this alien threat. She’d torn apart the Avengers, nearly killed herself a dozen times, tried desperately to protect them all, and had failed.

_______ _ _ _

She woke screaming more often than Morgan ever did.

_______ _ _ _

“Find the stones, kill him, stop him, cut off his hand, break the stones, hide them, I don’t know. I didn’t ask.”

_______ _ _ _

They were silent for a moment, the fake fire crackling warmly. _“I’m not burning carbon when we just got our atmo back!” _Toni had pronounced when Peter presented the house plans to her. The room needed a focal point he said, “and not a mirror!” before she could suggest it. She sulked for about seven minutes before sketching out a plan for a fake fireplace that actually gave off heat from the solar panels in the upper field.__

_________ _ _ _ _ _

_Seven minutes, _he thought. _I should have known time travel was possible then.___

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“You’ll give it to them,” he asked gently, not wanting to startle her. She was as uneasy, unsettled as he expected her to be after the visitors today, but this was different, this was her looking torn about something else.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I…it’s big. It’s a big thing.”

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Peter waited.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“It could change a lot of things. Everything.”

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Peter just nodded. Let her run it out. Peter was already there.

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Something goes wrong there,” she gestured off into the distance, “we’re not here.”

____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Toni was looking at him now. The firelight warming her brown eyes, picking out all the highlights, all the sparkles he loved to watch, drawing him in. But she wasn’t smiling, she was serious, intent. “We’re not here, _here.” _Her broad gesture narrowed now to include the house, and the rooms above them.__

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

The child above them.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Toni,” he said, laying a hand on her ankle. “I’ve loved you since I’ve known you. I believe we will be here no matter what timeline.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

She smiled then, blushing, half hiding her face in her arm. He felt the gentle exhale of her breath. “Swoon,” she replied in their secret language, but he knew she was moved. He could read every smile, every twitch of that beautiful mouth. Her hand covered his. “We got lucky.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“We did,” he agreed.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Others didn’t.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“No, they didn’t.” He’d let her work it through. He realized he always knew where this was going. And so did she.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Her eyes trailed off to the side. “I don’t have to help them.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Their fingers were interlaced now, wedding bands clinking quietly.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“No, you don’t have to.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I could put it in a box, put it on a shelf, and forget about it.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“You could.” He waited a bit then tilted his head. “Kind of feels like you can’t, though.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

She cut her eyes at him, not liking being humored. “I’m saying….” She searched for the words. No, she knew the words, he knew this, she searched for the courage to say them. “I’m saying I could forget about this. We stay here, we live this life.” To her credit, she didn't whisper.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Morgan’s name was never said. Peter believed in his heart that they would always be together, all of them.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I could just … stop.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Now it was Peter’s turn to smile, to catch her eye. They were leaning close to each other now, in a warm circle of their own world.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“Toni, the single greatest failure of my life has been ever getting you to rest.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

She was silent for a moment, and he thought she’d finally figured out how to stop time. They looked at each other, long, unhidden, honest.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Then she blinked and said quietly, “So what I’m hearing is you’re a failure.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Peter tugged her hand, bringing her closer before kissing her forehead and releasing her.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

She leaned both arms on the couch back and looked back to the holo table. Peter looked over as well, mesmerized by the swirling light, the perfection of the model.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“I have to make it portable,” she said, narrowing her eyes in thought.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“You will. Probably by midnight.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

She laughed, but they knew it was true.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

“It’s too late to take it up there now.”

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

They both knew where "there" was, and who was there, and all that was there. Peter honestly thought the difficult part of this whole Back-to-the-Future thing would be fitting all the pieces of the team back together. That Rogers had come out here with Natasha no less was ballsy, he had to admit. But Rogers never lacked courage, only common sense. Peter kept that thought to himself. He was pretty sure everyone would say Steve Rogers was common sense personified, but Peter Potts held a different view. Rogers may have had common-sense plans, but he lacked vision, inspiration. Boring wasn’t the same as common sense. It’s a shame Steve had never seen how he was the missing piece to the puzzle that was Toni Stark. The other half of the universe would still be here, it was that simple.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Peter didn’t have any illusions about his wife. Steve Rogers could’ve been sitting here right now instead of Potts if the Captain had played his cards right. But Steve threw in with the past, always the past with him. Peter always considered himself a present kind of guy. So long as Toni was present in the world somewhere, Peter was okay. He’d come to that conclusion thirty years ago in a smoke-filled dorm hallway at MIT. Toni was the sun and he was a planet in her orbit, sometimes close, sometimes distant, but always looping back. She and Rogers could fuck themselves silly on the landing pad of the Avengers Tower, but until Rogers looked at Toni, really saw her here in the now, he’d only ever be a thing.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

And Toni Stark had plenty of things.

_____________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_Go help Steve save the universe. We’ll be here when you come home. ___

_____ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

“You have a self-driving car,” he reminded her.

_____ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

She turned her head toward him, resting her cheek on her forearm. “I’m really sleepy.” She faked a yawn.

_____ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

“I suppose you need another nap?” he drawled.

_____ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

“Yes, please,” she replied pertly.

_____ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

“Favorite place?” he asked, pro forma.

_____ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

“Yes, please.”

_____ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

Peter raised his arm and she launched herself at him, slipping between his side and the back of the couch, wrapping a leg over his, tucking her head under his arm.

_____ _

________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

_Yeah, Steve Rogers cost us half the universe, and himself all the happiness in the world, past, present, and future. ___

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _

Toni would save everyone.

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _

Tomorrow.

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _

___________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_____ _

_____ _

_____ _


End file.
